Where would Dan go? Would he try and escape or would he hang around to try and find Jess? Somewhere behind him a twig cracked loudly in the silence. He swung round. He was vulnerable here. If he could see, so could Dan. The bastard might have circled round behind him. Cautiously he moved off the path into the shadows of the trees. He stood with his back to a broad ancient oak, feeling the bark rough and reassuring against his shirt. He rested his head back against the tree and glanced upwards through the branches. The storm had long ago moved on. The sky was clear. Now there wasn’t a breath of wind. The night was still; listening. Holding his breath he thought he could hear the distant, muffled roar of the brook as it hurtled down the hillside between the rocks.
Will you play with me?
The voice was clear and high, very close. He felt panic lurch in his throat as he strained his ears towards the sound.
I’m lonely with no one to play with.
He couldn’t see anyone. He flattened his hands on either side of him against the tree, gripping the grooves in the bark for reassurance. ‘Who’s there?’ His voice was husky.
Silence.
He could see nothing but the shadows of the trees. A fox barked in the distance and he felt the sweat start out between his shoulder blades. ‘Eigon, is that you?’
The quality of the silence changed. She was listening. ‘Eigon, sweetheart? Where are you?’
Eigon’s gone. She doesn’t want to play any more.
He swallowed. My God, he had made contact! He was shredding the tree bark with his nails. ‘What’s your name, sweetheart?’ His heart was pounding in his throat.
No answer.
A whisper of wind fluttered the leaves above his head.
‘Where are you, girly? Tell me your name?’ He could barely raise his voice. He didn’t dare move. ‘Can you show yourself? Let me see you.’
Another branch cracked on the path, closer this time. He shifted his head slightly, his eyes scanning the shadows. It was then he heard the low humourless laugh. ‘Talking to ghosts, are we?’ Dan stepped out onto the track. He was holding a broken branch in front of him like a stave. ‘These woods send everyone mad in the end, don’t they. Poor Rhodri. You stupid bloody interfering prat!’ His voice was full of hatred. ‘So, what are we going to do? Fight like Robin Hood and Little John?’ He stepped closer, holding the branch out in front of him. It looked sturdy enough to be lethal. Rhodri didn’t move. He was eyeing the undergrowth round him, trying to spot something he could use as a weapon himself. Strangely his fear had evaporated. Dan was someone he could deal with.
‘What is the matter with you, Dan?’ Rhodri tried to keep his voice steady. ‘What have any of these people ever done to you, for you to come and wreck their lives like this. What did Will ever do?’
Dan’s eyes flickered slightly at the mention of Will’s name but otherwise his expression was cold and non-reactive. ‘I don’t know what you mean. Jess asked for everything she got. She’s a tease; she enjoyed every minute of our encounter!’ There was a gleam of a cold smile.
Rhodri held himself still. If he rushed at Dan he wouldn’t get close with that sharp-ended branch pointing straight at his chest. There was nothing within reach that he could use. All he had for a weapon was his voice. He smiled broadly, putting as much feeling into it as possible. ‘Isn’t Jess something! Wonderful woman. I’m going to marry her.’
To his surprise he realised that he probably meant it. He registered the flash of cold hatred in Dan’s face and saw that at some level he had struck home.
‘She’s a whore.’ Dan spat the words at him.
Rhodri managed to laugh again. ‘You would say that, wouldn’t you.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
The branch was heavy, Rhodri could see the muscles in the other man’s arms beginning to flag; the branch lowered a fraction.
‘I mean that it sounds as though you have to force women; they never come to you voluntarily do they, Dan? Even your wife, so Steph tells me. You do know the police have been to see her twice now? I get the feeling she is not your greatest fan. Don’t expect an alibi there.’ He was managing to keep his voice calm, trying to talk him down from whatever manic height he was on. In the distance he could hear the distant sound of an engine, the distinctive batting of rotors. A helicopter. So, the police were already up there. Dan gave no sign that he had heard it. ‘So, what are you doing rushing about here, Dan? Are you still chasing Jess?’ Rhodri held his breath.
Dan smiled. ‘You’d like to know that, wouldn’t you. You don’t know where she is. She’s disappeared and you want to know if I’ve found her. You want to know if I’ve killed her.’ He sounded almost sleepy.
‘It would help to know where she is, but I know you haven’t killed her. You haven’t got the bottle.’ Rhodri held his gaze. ‘You took Will by surprise, didn’t you? Will was a nice guy. He would never suspect even a lowlife piece of scum like you to jump him. Did you look him in the eye when you killed him, Dan? Or couldn’t you bear to think of what a nice decent bloke he was compared to you so you attacked him from behind.’ He smiled. ‘Ah. I’ve sussed you there, haven’t I. That’s exactly what you did.’ The helicopter was coming closer.
‘You have no proof that I killed Will. The police will never pin that one on me.’
Rhodri shook his head. ‘Ah, there you’re wrong. Because even that you didn’t do efficiently. He lived long enough to write your name in blood on the wall. How corny is that?’
‘You’re lying again.’
Rhodri shrugged. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ He tensed as Dan renewed his grip on the piece of wood and raised it.
‘What’s your spelling like, Rhodri?’ Dan gave a cold grin. ‘Shall we find out? All we need is some blood!’
Have you come to play with me?
The voice came from just behind Dan. He froze.
I’m lonely here. Shall we go on playing the game?
A pale shape had appeared, hovering in the clearing. Rhodri could make out the outline of her long hair, her ragged skirt reaching midway down her calf.
‘Hello, sweetheart,’ he said softly. ‘We’d love to play with you, wouldn’t we, Dan?’
Dan spun round with a cry of fear. The branch flew out of his hand and without pausing to glance at her he plunged away through the trees. The little girl had gone.
Rhodri breathed again. Pushing himself away from the trunk he ran forward, his anger propelling him towards the undergrowth where Dan had disappeared. Then he stopped, getting a grip on himself with an effort as he stood gazing down the slope where Dan had vanished. There wasn’t a sound. No clue which way he had gone. The helicopter had drawn away; it was skirting the base of the hillside. He caught sight of the powerful searchlight sweeping across the distant trees.
A branch cracked behind him. He turned sharply on his heel, eyes narrowed, his heart thumping as he stared round. If it wasn’t Dan it had to be the child.
‘Well, girly. You sorted him, didn’t you? That was very clever of you,’ he called out. He was looking at the clearing where the apparition had appeared. Had he really seen her, or was it just the flicker of moonlight through the leaves of the trees, dancing on the path. His fury at Dan was suddenly replaced by a fear of what he had seen. He could feel his skin prickling. He turned round again slowly, his eyes straining into the woodland. ‘Are you still there?’ he called. Was he addressing Dan or the child? He was being watched, he could sense it. He held his breath. Slowly stepping back from the top of the slope he edged backwards to where Dan had thrown the branch and he picked it up. It was heavy, one end sharpened by the ragged tear where it had been wrenched from the tree. It could have killed him. He stood staring at it as he balanced it in his two hands.
Did you hurt my sister?
The voice seemed closer now. Right beside him. Rhodri blanched, tightening his grip on the piece of wood. ‘No, I didn’t hurt your sister. That was bad men did that.’ He spoke softly, hardly daring to look rou
nd. Where was she?
She left us alone. She didn’t come back.
‘She couldn’t come back She wanted to.’ He moved his head slightly. Was that her, on the grassy clearing now, deeper in the trees? Just a pale blur, scarcely more than a shadow amongst shadows, moving away.
‘God bless, sweetheart,’ he murmured.
There was no response.
Then suddenly she was back, almost beside him and he could see every detail. The white bedraggled face, the small neat nose, the large dark eyes and the angry little mouth. ‘I’ve got the lady!’ she said clearly. ‘And I’m going to make her pay for killing my brother and taking my sister away!’
‘What do you mean?’ Rhodri reached out towards her, frantically trying to grip the thin air. ‘What lady? Do you mean Jess?’
But she had gone.
35
Julius stood on the quay at Portus Dubris, looking round. The journey across Gaul had been fast and more or less without incident and he had obtained a passage easily on one of the swift trading boats which plied in and out of the port of Gesoriacum. Britannia was, as Eigon used to tell him with half-joking mournfulness, wet and cold and windy. But the wind had brought him quickly across the ocean so he could forgive it that. He sought a guide at once and was swiftly ensconced with his young companion, Drusus, by the roaring fire in the first decent inn that could be found, and in front of a hot meal. The port had been like ports everywhere, busy, dirty, noisy. There were decent buildings on the wharf and signs of well-repaired warehouses, good roads and a flourishing market not too far away.
‘So, how are we going to know where they’ve gone?’ Drusus looked up from his plate of hot stew. There was a smear of gravy on his chin. Julius grinned at him affectionately and discreetly refrained from mentioning it. He had become very fond of the doctor’s precocious teenage son with his unruly dark hair, his infectious grin and his seemingly uncontrollably long limbs. ‘I have no idea what we do next.’ He shrugged wearily.
‘Do you know much about Britannia?’ The lad helped himself to another wedge of bread.
Julius gloomily dug a husk of grain from between his teeth. ‘Only what Eigon told me. She said it rained a lot.’ They both glanced at the doorway. It had opened to allow a party of men in off the street and they could hear the rain pouring down onto the cobbles and streaming down the gutters off the roof. ‘She also said it was beautiful and soft and green and full of hills.’
‘Not this part of Britannia then,’ Drusus deduced practically. ‘The man we spoke to on the boat said the hills were in the north and over in the west.’ He took another mouthful and chewed thoughtfully. ‘How big is Britannia? Do you know?’
Julius gave a wry grin. ‘Big enough. There are still huge areas of this land which are not part of the Empire. Wild tribes everywhere.’
‘And your lady is a wild tribesman?’ The boy gave him a cheeky look.
Julius nodded tolerantly. ‘I believe she might be. Although her father was captured, that didn’t, I gather, end the opposition of the Silures. If anything they tried harder than ever to defeat us; and further north there are other tribes even fiercer. I feel we should aim for Siluria. I think that is what Eigon would do. Her mother’s people came from there and she seems to have loved it. Her father was originally king of the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes, most of whom are content with the rule of Rome now, though I fear what we are used to hearing in Rome may not be the whole story.’ He gave an involuntary shudder.
‘So,’ Drusus helped himself to yet more stew from the dish near him and added a hefty slurp of fish sauce from the jar on the table, ‘we have to find out how to get to Siluria.’
They had to head, it appeared, for Londinium, then towards Calleva of the Atrebates, then towards either Aquae Sulis or to Glevum. But first they had to ride north to Durovernum Cantiacorum. When they asked how long all this would take they were greeted with shrugs and a shaking of heads and indications with outspread hands and counting of fingers that a journey to such outlandish places might take weeks or months or even years. Julius was beginning to feel more and more depressed but luckily for him Drusus was still overwhelmingly excited by this his first real adventure and was full of practical tips on choosing horses and negotiating with the locals, and Julius was good-naturedly happy to let him think he was the only one who could cope with this aspect of such exotic travel. He had long ago worked out that as long as Drusus was fed hugely and regularly the boy would be a tower of strength and good humour.
They negotiated for two good strong horses and headed out onto the road. The ostler who directed them towards the town gate said it was some thirty miles to Durovernum. Of that much he seemed certain and they rode out of the town as the mist began to rise and a thin watery sun began to light the road.
Thirty Roman miles away Eigon leaned against a wall near the gate into the fort. She was swathed in a warm cloak and there was a basket on her arm but she had not moved for a long time now. At first passing men had tried to chat her up; a woman had sworn at her for being a street whore, another had offered her a job but she had ignored them all and eventually they had left her alone. Her eyes were fixed on the gate but in her head she was inside the fort, watching, following, praying for Drusilla and for Commios.
It was several seconds before she noticed the man standing in the shade of the gate, thoughtfully looking her way. His face was in shadow as the weak morning sunlight played across the road and she couldn’t see him clearly but she could see the tenseness of his stance, the attention with which he seemed to be studying her. Instinctively she stepped back and half-turned away. Whoever he was she didn’t want him to be able to identify her.
Cautiously she turned back, the hood of her cloak pulled tightly around her face. He was still there; still watching.
She turned away and casually walked a few paces, turning down the first road she came to. Hurrying she ran towards the next turning and taking it, doubled back almost at once up a narrow alleyway to come out almost where she had started. The figure had gone. Had he followed her? She glanced over her shoulder warily. There was no sign of him. A cart rattled slowly past her and headed for the main gate into the fortress. It stopped and a guard stepped forward to talk to the driver. The man leaned down. He was waving his arms around. They were both laughing.
Someone touched her arm and she jumped. ‘Eigon!’ It was Drusilla.
‘How did you get out without me seeing you? What happened? Where is Commios?’ Eigon clutched at her.
‘He’s safe,’ Drusilla whispered. ‘They are going to put him into that cart when it comes out again. It’s full of amphorae and they will exchange them for unbroken empties which will go back to the warehouse. You go now. Titus is here; he is putting word round as usual, asking if anyone has seen you and offering a reward. Luckily he’s thrown his weight about a bit too much. The men I talked to are quite happy to get one over on him. It will be no skin off their noses and they will be quite a bit richer for it if they do as I want rather than him.’ She patted the purse under her cloak and smiled. ‘His rewards are becoming more meagre. Either he thinks people are content to do more for less over here, or he is running out of money! You go. Head out of the west gate now, while you can. Follow the road until you come to a villa which lies to the righthand side of the road. I gather it is the first big place you will see – perhaps some three miles on and it acts as a way station. Wait for us there. God bless you!’ And she was gone.
Eigon stared after her but there was no time to hesitate. Clutching her cloak round her and with a firm grip on her basket she turned away and headed back down the street to look for the west gate.
Commios caught on quickly. When the guard beckoned, after glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was observing them, he got up and moved. The man raised a hand to hold him back for one minute while he glanced left and right out of the doorway then he gestured him out into the passage and from there into the outer courtyard. In seconds Commios had hop
ped up into the wagon, dived for the back, someone had thrown a pile of sacks over him and then a few empty amphorae had been stacked against him for good measure and the two dozy oxen were being turned around with much shouting and cracking of whips. Commios lay still, his heart beating frantically as he listened for a shout, any sound that he had been discovered. None came. The wagon lurched round with a squeaking of anguished wheels and then it was in motion. Glancing upward through a gap between the sacks he saw the great arch above him as the wagon retraced its route out of the fort and down the main street. He was free. He lay still for a long time, not daring to move until a voice yelled at him from the front of the wagon. ‘Oi! You! Hop off now, while no one’s looking.’
Commios didn’t need to be told twice. In seconds he had thrown back the sacks and amidst a sea of rolling amphorae had vaulted over the side of the wagon down into the street.
Drusilla seized his arm and dragged him out of sight. ‘That was close. I was sure someone would stick a sword into the wagon to check there was no one hiding. They’ve done that with one or two loads going in.’
‘Wonderful!’ Commios took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. ‘Where’s Eigon?’
‘I’ve sent her on ahead. It was too dangerous for her to wait in the town. Titus seems to have spies everywhere. She’s going to wait for us on the road towards Londinium.’ She caught his arm. ‘Have you still got any money?’
‘Not much. They took my purse. They took everything. I had a few coins in another pouch round my neck. They missed that but it won’t get us far.’ He glanced at her quickly. ‘Why?’
‘It took all we had to get you out of there,’ she said simply. ‘We had to outbid Titus.’
Commios muttered something under his breath. ‘It’s up to us then. We’ll have to sing for our supper.’ He grinned and linked his arm through hers. ‘Come on, let’s go and find Eigon and we’ll be on our way. After all, it’s easier to travel without a load of luggage to weigh us down!’
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